Former Amrad CEO takes top job at Cerylid

Two months after his surprise resignation as CEO of Amrad (ASX:AML), Peter Smith has taken on a part-time role as CEO of Cerylid Biosciences, an unlisted company of which Amrad is the major shareholder.

"I was the Amrad representative on the [Cerylid] board and clearly with me resigned from Amrad, it was no longer appropriate that I was in that position," said Smith. "With Jackie Fairley moving on there was a gap at the top. So it was quite a natural thing for me to step into that role."

Former Cerylid CEO Jackie Fairley became chief operating officer at Starpharma (ASX:SPL, USOTC:SPHRY) this month.

Currently working "two and a bit days a week", Smith said tenure at Cerylid was "open-ended".

"I think it will be a fun role, for whatever period it lasts," he said.

Smith said Cerylid had found it hard to raise sufficient money to support all of its projects. "I think my role is to either find alternative sources of capital and to build the company up or to realise the value of the assets on behalf of shareholders," he said.

He said he would consider refinancing the company and building it up by bringing in other programs. Another option would be to conduct a trade sale of the entire company or its individual assets.

"I'm having a lot of conversations with a lot of potentially interested parties, and we'll see what we can actually do and forge out of the assets here," he said.

Smith said that in a "funny quirk of fate", one of the "exciting" projects at Cerylid was in the thrombosis area -- an inhibitor of the PI3 kinase, the subject of his PhD.